Dubai: A businessman had the shock of his life when he discovered that Dh6.5 million deposit he had made in a bank shrunk to Dh11,000 while he was abroad. The Afghan businessman opened a bank account and deposited Dh6.5 million in it and flew back to his country in March 2014.

In September 2014, the businessman was still in his country when he failed to withdraw cash using ATM card and he failed to do the same using the online banking service.

Records showed the Afghan also failed to communicate with the bank using his UAE SIM card. When he called from his Afghan number, according to records, the bank’s call centre informed him that his account had been active and that Dh6.5 million had been transferred to other bank accounts using the bank’s phone banking service.

The Afghan immediately informed the bank that he had not activated the phone banking service and then reported the matter to the police.

Police investigations revealed that a 22-year-old Pakistani clerk of the bank and his countryman who worked for Du had conspired against the businessman. The clerk and Du employee were said to have forged an application bearing the businessman’s details and obtained a new SIM card in the Afghan’s name. Then they used that SIM card to contact the bank and give the businessman’s details to change the pin code and activate the phone banking service [for elite clients] and transferred Dh6.5 million to other accounts.

The clerk pleaded not guilty and strongly refuted the accusations when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

He contended before presiding judge Urfan Omar that he did not forge any papers or document.

The businessman testified to prosecutors that he flew back to Dubai once he was alerted that Dh6.5 million had been missing from his account. “According to investigations carried out by the bank and the police, I was informed that someone had impersonated me, activated the phone banking service and embezzled my money. The culprit had obtained the replacement SIM card from Ajman …,” he told prosecutors.

A ruling will be heard on March 13.

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